Mon, 03 Jan 2000

Whose money is safe in BCA?

As a Director of Studies at a language school in Bekasi, I suggested that our new office boy should open an account at BCA. In this way, the money he had saved to take home to his wife and their baby in Central Java, would be safe.

Unfortunately, a thief stole his bank book on Dec. 27, 1999, in the evening. Accordingly, I told him to go to his BCA branch (Kemang Pratama) to report the loss and ask them to close the account. Consequently, he went the next day when the bank opened at 8:30 a.m. He was told that he needed a formal letter from the police station to report the loss. Two-and-a half hours later he returned with the police letter. They then closed the account and he was told that the balance was only Rp 24,295.27, and they would deduct Rp 5,000 for closing the account.

When questioned further, Rita at Customer Services checked and eventually told our office boy that somebody had already taken out Rp 475,000 (the maximum the thief could take out) from his account from the BCA branch at Tangerang. He was then given a fax of the withdrawal slip which had three signatures, each of which was different. None of them were the same as his real signature. He came back to the school with only Rp 19,300 plus frustration, disappointment and stress.

Then, the Director, the office boy and myself went to Kemang Pratama branch to question this. We spoke to Mr. Wardjono, the branch manager, who accepted that the three signatures were not the same as the office boy's signature. He then contacted the Tangerang branch to ask for more information. Later, he called us back, and said he could not do anything, as the Tangerang branch said the signatures looked OK. When Mr. Wardjono was asked to put this in writing, he refused, saying any letter from him must be countersigned by head office.

I am truly disappointed by the service of BCA. First, the Customer Service department had no sense of urgency. Second, BCA, being the most widespread bank in Indonesia, seems to ignore the ordinary people, who trust their Lebaran savings in their bank. Third, if the BCA teller questioned the signature (she had asked the thief to sign a third time), why didn't she ask him to show his ID card? Otherwise, this could happen to my or anybody else's account. So, whose money is safe in BCA?

DAVID SANDERS

Bekasi, West Java